HARARE (ZIMBABWE)– In spite of a crippling foreign currency crisis ravaging the Zimbabwean economy, locals are finding the hard currency to buy real estate in South Africa.
Interestingly, when it comes to splurging on property down South, Zimbabweans are in the same league as nationals from the United Kingdom, Germany, Botswana, Portugal, the United States, Belgium, Switzerland, China, the Netherlands, the UAE and France.
A report by South Africa’s First National Bank (FNB) reveals that 20 percent of foreign buyers of residential property in South Africa are now from the rest of Africa.
This is up from 16 percent in 2013. Most of them buy in Johannesburg, according to Lightstone data.
Pam Golding Property Group (PGP) chief executive Andrew Golding, says the group’s sales to foreign buyers in general is just below 3,5 percent of the total sales by the group. The top countries from which PGP’s foreign property buyers come are the UK, Germany, Botswana, Portugal, Zimbabwe, the US, Belgium, Switzerland, China, the Netherlands, the UAE and France.
According to Golding, these buyers tend to purchase property across all price bands, but particularly between approximately R2m and R5m. They also tend to seek convenient, lock-up-and-go homes such as apartments in secure complexes, as well as homes within secure estates.